MY great mate Stan Collymore wasn’t eligible to play in the 2000 Worthington Cup final. But he will always be remembered for the major impact he had on our pre-Wembley bonding session.

La Manga: two little words, so many headlines. And all because Stan let off a fire extinguisher in the lounge bar of our very exclusive hotel at four in the morning.

The idea to go to Spain was a good one. Martin O’Neill thought we could relax before the final against Tranmere but he didn’t come with us.

His assistants John Robertson and Steve Walford took us instead and we started drinking as soon as we boarded the plane. Robbo was on Bloody Marys.

We arrived at La Manga and piled into reception. The floors were marble, huge chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling, and the whole place was very expensive and very up-market.

“Where’s the f***ing bar,” shouted a broad Scouse accent. Ian Marshall, the joker of the changing-room, wasn’t wasting any time. The beer was flowing. So was every other alcoholic drink you could name!

Norwegian club Rosenborg were staying there too and their players were shaking their heads as they muttered “lager louts.” Their coach asked us to keep the noise down.

We took the hint, left the hotel and found an Irish bar. We carried on drinking. And drinking.

At one point, Robbo told us it was time to go to bed, because we had a curfew. Marshall asked Robbo for an extension, and he said “You’d have to ask the gaffer.” So he rang Martin back in England, at whatever time it was in the morning, left a message and told the rest of us we had a couple of extra hours.

By now we were all in a state. But on the way back at about 2.30am, one of the lads peed in a flowerpot by the main door of our hotel, and I could see these people looking at us in horror: men in white tuxedos, women in evening dresses.

At nine the next morning, there was a bang on the door and the instruction to pack.

What happened? Stan had let off the fire extinguisher in scenes of carnage, according to the lads who were there. The incident had already been reported on Sky TV.

Marshall was petrified. Even the lads who hadn’t done anything were frightened about facing Martin. He was fuming. We’d dragged the name of Leicester City through the mud.Finally, he turned to Marshall and ordered: “Don’t ever leave a message on my phone again.”

Drinking hadn’t been a factor at United or at Crewe. But things were a bit different at Leicester.

One time, Neil Lennon, Muzzy Izzet and I did a sold-out Q&A at Jongleurs nightclub. Training finished at lunchtime so we went for a drink to wait for the gig.

As the afternoon wore on, the prospect of facing 400 supporters became more and more daunting. So we had another drink. Then another. We turned up at Jongleurs absolutely steaming.

The first half was a disaster. Lennie spat beer on one lady and Muzzy fell asleep. Luckily we brought it back a bit after the interval but God knows what those fans must have thought.

Ace Daily Mirror columnist Robbie Savage is releasing his new biography Savage next week - and MirrorFootball will be carrying more exclusive extracts on Wednesday.